Counting Crows
by Songblade Swiftpaw
Summary: Karasu gets a stone that brings him back to life and makes him stronger, but it has a horrible side effect. Now he's now a crow and he has to find the stone to change back! So he gets the help of a girl that was once a crow herself. Karasuxoc
1. Once a Demon, Now A Crow

Author's note: Oh my God! Another non "R" story! This one is another random. I quite a few characters in this one, but mainly the girl, Red. Enjoy.   
  
Chapter One  
  
Karasu clutched a dark blue stone that had given him his life back, he would look at it and laugh. Not only had it given his life back but it also gave him great power, the power he need to get Kurama. He had gotten the stone by a freak accident, another demon had brought it in with him when he died and he handed it over to Karasu with no hassle. Karasu was now in the human world, he was going to hunt Kurama down like the fox he was. After all that walking his body began to get tired, which he did not understand why, but he couldn't fight it so he found a tree to sleep in. After dreaming of black feathers everywhere and the cawing of crows he was awoken by a sharp pain in his chest and he hit the ground.  
  
"Haa haa! I got that stupid bird!" He heard a boy say, he opened his eyes, they was three grade school boys standing in front of him.  
  
"Get away you little assholes!" He yelled.  
  
"Caw caw caw is all we hear crow." The biggest of the three boys said. Karasu tried to get up, but he realized he couldn't, he looked at his hands. They weren't even hands, they were feathery wings, he looked down, he was already standing up, on clawed bird feet! He crossed his eyes and saw he had a sharp black beak. He was a crow!  
  
"That crow has purple colored eyes." A boy said.  
  
"Look at that stone." One of the boys went over beside the tree he was sleeping in and picked his stone up off the ground.  
  
"It looks valuable, let's go see if we can sell it." Another one said.  
  
"Okay, but first gimme a big rock to sling at the crow, maybe I can break its neck." The biggest one said, one of them brought him a rock about the size a small apple, "This'll work." He threw the rock at Karasu, who tried to run, but he just fell forward. Bird instinct kicked in and he flew straight up into a tree.  
  
"Damn, missed him. Let's go try to sell that rock." The boy said, they left with Karasu's stone.  
  
"No, all my power." He said, "Now, on to the matters at hand, how did I end up a crow?" He stopped and began to think, but he couldn't come up with an answer.  
  
"Hi." He heard someone say, there was a fury of feathers as six crows landed next to him.  
  
"Hi, you can understand me?" He asked.  
  
"Well, duh, we're crows too." One of them said.  
  
"Could you guys help me? I was just a demon a few hours ago and now I'm a crow." He looked at himself.  
  
"Um, no. But we do know someone that can help you." One of the younger crows said.  
  
"Okay, take me to them." He watched as the six started to fly, he launched himself out of the tree and began to flap his wings, he hit the ground with a soft thud. The crows flew down.  
  
"Tuck your legs under yourself when you take off." They showed him a few times until he got the hang of it. Karasu sighed, the view he had while flying was breath taking. After a few minutes of flying he wanted to rest, he began to make a nose dive toward the ground to stop, "No, no, can't stop now, we're almost there!" He pulled back up and was flying kind of sluggish. The took him deep into a forest.  
  
"Are we almost there yet?" He asked.  
  
"Yep, here we go." All the crows took a nose dive, he followed them into a thick tree, they had stopped but he ran into a closed window. He was now outside of a huge tree house, more like a tree mansion, "This is the place, the woman inside will help you."  
  
"Can she understand me?" He asked, they nodded, he pecked at the window.  
  
"Hold on, hold on I'm coming." A young girl with hair as black as the crows and eyes the color of fresh spilled blood opened the window, "Hello, what's your name?"   
  
"Hello." He paused a second, taken back by the demonic color of her eyes, they he continued. "MynameisKarasu, IgotturnedintoacrowandIdon't-" He said so quickly that she closed his beak.  
  
"Slowly." She said.  
  
"Okay, my name is Karasu and I got turned into a crow and I don't know how." He said.  
  
"My name is Red Eye, call me Red. Now, let's see here, you didn't do anything to someone that would make them but a curse on you did you?" She asked.  
  
"No, everyone thinks I'm dead."  
  
"Okay, have you eaten anything enchanted lately?"  
  
"No."  
  
"How about a blue stone, did you ever touch a dark blue stone?"   
  
"Yes, I did, that's what gave me my life back." He said.   
  
"Damn, the only one left and it still manages to get someone." She picked him up and brought him into her house, setting him on top of a table.  
  
"What was that stone?" He asked.  
  
"It's a cursed stone that gives it's holder tremendous power, but only for a short period of time. Then the holder gets sleepy, goes to sleep, and wakes up as a crow." She sat down.  
  
"Okay, but how do you know this?" He hopped over to the edge.  
  
"Easy, it has the total opposite effects on crows, it turns them into demons. Just look at me." She said.  
  
"Is that how you can talk to crows?" He asked.   
  
"Yes, where was the stone the last time you saw it?"   
  
"Some boys had taken it and were going to sell it."   
  
"I'm going to go see if I can find it then." She got up, "I don't want you to leave this house."   
  
"Why not?"   
  
Because, there's a man that lives right outside this forest and his favorite thing to do is to kill crows. Especially ones with odd colored eyes, I almost fell victim of his sick games." She said, "Remember, I don't want you leaving this house."  
  
"Okay." Karasu sat in a window watching her leave, he felt so defenseless and weak, but he was a crow now and there was nothing he could do about it, yet. 


	2. Karasu, Shot Down

Author's note: Isn't it ironic? Karasu the crow, turned into a crow. Sorry out there to those yaoi fans, this isn't yaoi. Anyway, I own quite a few characters that are actually named in this one, but still mainly Red. Enjoy  
  
Chapter Two  
  
Karasu hopped to the door when Red walked in.  
  
"Did you find the stone?" He asked, she shook her head.  
  
"No, a pawn shop owner said he bought a stone from three boys, but then it was sold to someone else." She said, "Finding this stone isn't going to be easy."  
  
"I realize that." Karasu said fluffing his feathers to where he looked like nothing but a large, black puff ball with a beak and violet eyes.   
  
"It took me three years to hunt just one down once." She said.  
  
"Hm...That really brings my hopes up." His feathers returned to normal.  
  
"Oh, be quiet." She picked him up and he gave a loud 'caw' of surprise. She sat down at the table and set him on it, "Now, what do you want to eat? You have to be hungry."  
  
"I am." He looked at the table, there was bread in a container. He hopped over to it and began to peck at the lid, she reached over and pulled it off.  
  
"There you go." He sat on the rim and began to eat, since he was still not used to being a crow he fell in the bread container, she giggled.  
  
"Damn it, don't laugh at me." He sat down in the container and ate.  
  
"I can tell you were once a demon." She said.  
  
"How?" He asked, beak full of bread.  
  
"You're lazy!" She said.  
  
"So I don't want to stand, it's not my fault my legs are thin." He continued to eat.  
  
"Excuses." She put the lid on the container.  
  
"Hey! Hey!" She was walking away from him, he jumped up and down, "You can't leave me in here!"   
  
"Why not?" She asked.  
  
"Why not?!? Geh!" He flopped over and began to shake, she rushed over to it and threw the lid off.  
  
"Karasu! Karasu are you okay?" She asked dumping the contents on the table, first crow, then bread.   
  
"I'm fine, but that could have happened if I was in there long enough." He said digging himself from the pile of bread.  
  
"You're a very strange bird, I'll bet when you were a demon you were the kind that stalked people." She said.  
  
"You described me to a tee." He ate some more of the bread.  
  
"I'll bet you're thirsty." She filled a large cup up with water and then filled a pie plate on the table. Karasu drank some coughing because he still wasn't used to his new body, "Maybe you should bath." She dumped the rest of the water from the cup on him.  
  
"How dare you!" He said shaking it off.  
  
"You really think you can do something about it, crow?" She asked challengingly.  
  
"Yeah, I have a sharp beak." He flew at her and she caught him.  
  
"Haa!" She held him out, a mischievous glint shone in his eyes as he pecked her hand, "Ow!" She let him go and he hit the ground.  
  
"Free!" He got up and stumbled a few paces and flew off through the house.  
  
"Hey, get back here!" She ran after him, she stopped when she heard something pecking at a window. She went and opened a window, a few crows flew in.  
  
"Red! We found that rock you were looking for, some woman has it." One of the crows said.  
  
"Where at?" She asked.  
  
"She likes in a blue house right outside the pond side of the park." Another crow said.  
  
"Okay, Karasu I'll be back." She ran out the door, down the stairs, and down the path. Karasu sat in the open window looking out.  
  
"Hey new crow," Karasu looked at the crows, "you wanna come fly with us?"  
  
"No." He said.  
  
"Come on, it'll do your wings some good to fly." They said.   
  
"Well, she didn't tell me to stay in the house this time." He clacked his beak together thoughtfully, "Okay."  
  
"Great, let's go." The crows flew out the window, Karasu took a few steps and then flew after them, "We'll take you over the park, it's beautiful."  
  
"Okay." He followed them to a gorgeous park, it was even more beautiful because of the bird's eye view he was getting. They had been flying for a while and he was getting tired again.  
  
"Come on, we're going to take you back." They turned and headed in the direction of Red's home. He was thankful going back, they were passing over someone's house next to the woods when he saw a man with binoculars looking watching them fly.   
  
"Wow, that last crow has violet colored eyes." The man said, "Quick, Dorei, get my gun."  
  
"Yes, Mr.Tatsujin." Another man went in the house and came out with a small rifle made for hunting birds, he handed it to the other guy.  
  
"Another bird for my collection." He raised the rifle, Karasu was already flying slowly because he was tired.  
  
"Karasu!" Red came running out of the woods, the man shot the gun. Karasu was flapping with all his might, but it was no use, he felt a sharp pain rip through his chest and couldn't find the strength to fly anymore. He fell towards earth, Red caught him, he was bleeding badly. He looked at her weakly.  
  
"Don't let me die." He said, almost in a choke.  
  
"Don't worry, I won't." She tucked him in her coat and ran through the woods, crying because she was afraid she would lose him. Someone stepped out in front of her, it was some weird looking girl.   
  
"Hello, Red." She said seductively.  
  
"Get out of my way Rezu." Red snarled, if she didn't get Karasu back to her house he would die from blood loss.  
  
"No, I want you Red." Rezu pulled a vicious looking knife out, "And when I want something, I take it." Karasu looked up at Red, then over at Rezu, and realized what he had done to Kurama was wrong, in many different ways. 


	3. Stone Found!

Author's note: This chapter is short, but is it the end of the story? I need help.....Which one of the YYH gang would you like to see as a crow? Hiei? Kurama? Someone write me or throw it into a review. I own Red. Enjoy!  
  
  
  
Chapter Three  
  
"You aren't getting me Rezu!" Red wrapped her arms tightly around Karasu. He could no longer see, but he could tell they were moving quickly. He heard a door open, then shut and lock. He was taken out of her coat and gentle placed on a towel on the table.  
  
"Am..I going to die?" He asked her, "How...Did we get...Here so fast?"  
  
"I don't know and remember, the rock turned me into a demon." She got a large pair of tweezers and gently pulled away some feathers around his wound, "You lucky bastard, you cheated death."  
  
"Huh?" He looked at her.  
  
"The bullet only grazed a few nerves, that's the reason you're in so much pain. You're going to be fine, your bleeding has already stopped." She smiled at him, "But I still need to bandage it up." She got some gauze and bandaged his wound up.  
  
"So, can I still fly?" He asked.  
  
"Yes, but I wouldn't recommend it." She said, "Anyway, I should tape your wings to you, what did I tell you?"  
  
"What do you mean?" He stood up and flexed his wings.  
  
"What do I mean!? I told you not to leave the house because of that hunter." She put the tweezers up.  
  
"But you didn't tell me that time." He looked at her apologetically.  
  
"I should only have to tell you once." She crossed her arms and glared at him.  
  
"I'm sorry." His head tilted forward and his wings drooped down.  
  
"It'll be okay this time, but..There won't be a next time." She said.  
  
"Why not?!" He watched her go into another room and come back with a metal box.  
  
"Because, he won't be able to shoot you." She opened it, it was the stone he had to begin with that turned him into a crow.  
  
"How did you get it?" He asked excitedly.  
  
"I bought it off the woman, she said she didn't like it." She set the box on the table, "All you have to do is touch it to turn back."  
  
"That's it?" He asked.   
  
"Yes, but I want you to push it off the table, it's so thin it should break. And then you would be back to yourself and no one else would be able to become a crow." She said.  
  
"But, don't you want to be a crow again?" He asked.  
  
"No, I want to help the crows that need it." She smiled sweetly.  
  
"So when can I do it?" He asked.  
  
"Now if you want." She said.  
  
"Okay!" He shouted, she tipped the box over and the blue stone fell out.  
  
"But do one thing for me." He looked at her, "You'll go to sleep when you're changing back into your real self, I'm going to go to sleep to. I want you to leave when I'm sleeping, so I don't have to see you go."  
  
"Okay." Karasu felt a knot in his throat while looking at Red's soft, sad features. He hopped over to the rock painfully and touched it with his wing, then began to push it with his beak, he got it to the edge and gave it one final push and it went sailing over the edge. There was a loud crack noise, he looked over the edge, the stone was in pieces. A blue plume of smoke rose form the pieces and the rocks turned gray, "When should it start to work? Yawnnn."   
  
"Any minute now." Red laid down on a couch that was across the room from the table. Karasu sunk down on his little legs until he was nested on the table, he fell asleep. He dreamed of explosions and bombs, a sign of his true self. He woke up, Red was sleeping on the couch. He looked down at himself, he had hands and hair and a normal body.  
  
"Well, Red I guess this is good bye." He walked over to her and then turned to the door, he walked over and opened it, it was dark out.   
  
"Karasu, don't leave me." He heard Red sob, he turned around and walked over to her, she was talking and crying in her sleep. He stared at her, then at the door, he went and shut it, then sat down at the table.   
  
"Don't worry Red, I won't leave you." 


	4. A New Stone, A New Crow

Author's note: Sorry I haven't updated in a while, I've been so busy. Anyway. Enjoy.  
  
  
  
Chapter Four  
  
Red stared at Karasu funny.  
  
"Are you okay Red?" He asked her.  
  
"Yeah, it's just. I never thought you would look like this." She said, "Why didn't you leave?"  
  
"I didn't want to." He smiled at Red.  
  
"I'm so glad you didn't go." She got up and hugged him, burying her face in his neck, "I've never had anyone that actually understands me."   
  
"Now you have me." Karasu ran his fingers through Red's hair, it was the same color as his, "So do you think the excursions for those stones are over?"   
  
"Yes, I think I have gotten rid of all of them."   
  
*******  
  
Hiei was walking through a back ally way, with nothing to do. He kicked something and it slid across the ground, he picked it up. It was a dark blue stone.  
  
"This is nice, maybe Kurama would like it." He put it in his pocket and headed towards Kurama's. When he got there he opened his window and went in, Kurama wasn't even home, in fact no one was. He yawned sleep threatened to take him over. He crawled up onto the windowsill, "I'll just wait for him here." He fell asleep dreaming of crow feathers and cawing.  
  
********   
  
Red was sitting in a high branch next to Karasu.  
  
"Karasu I think I love you." She said.  
  
"I already know I love you Red." He watched as a few crows flew passed and cawed at Red, who cawed back.  
  
"They said hello." She smiled at him, "Remember you were once a crow so don't give me that look."  
  
"I know and I was shot, it hurt like hell." He laughed as she opened his jacket.  
  
"How is that wound?" She just about pulled the jacket off him, "Where is it?"  
  
"Remember, I'm a demon, my wounds heal fast." She got a stupid looked on her face.  
  
"Oh yeah, that's right. I should have known that." She put his coat back on and buttoned it up.  
  
"What's up with that Rezu woman?" He asked.  
  
"She a sick psycho path. She wants me in more ways than one." Red kissed Karasu then jumped out of the tree.  
  
"Red don't that's about forty feet to the ground!" He looked down, she was standing on the ground, "How in the hell?"  
  
"Come on, don't be a scaredy crow." He jumped down and landed next to her.  
  
"I'm not a scaredy crow." He said, "How did you get down? How did I get down?"  
  
"The ground is soft here I guess." She started to walk down the path.  
  
"Where are you going?" He asked.  
  
"It should be where are we going?" She said, "We're going to town, I have to get a few things."  
  
********  
  
"Get out you filthy bird!" Someone shoved Hiei out of Kurama's window, he looked up. It was Kurama's mom.  
  
"You stupid bitch! It's me Hiei!" He snapped.  
  
"Shut up you dirty crow." She shut the window. Hiei noticed he was shorter than normal, he looked down. He was a crow! Black feathers, a beak, clawed feet, and wings!  
  
"How in the hell did I get like this?" Hiei asked himself. The stone he had found was laying next to the sidewalk, someone walked up to it.  
  
"Oo, a power stone." That someone was Rezu, she put a glove on a picked the stone up, "Red would do anything to destroy this stone. Red, you will soon be mine."  
  
"Sick bitch." Hiei started hopping, someone kicked him into a bush, it was Yusuke, "Yusuke help!"  
  
"Ew, nasty a crow." Yusuke avoided him.  
  
"Hi there, what's your name?" Red was standing in front of Hiei.  
  
"Hiei, wait you can understand me?" Hiei asked.  
  
"Of course I can." Red knelt down. Hiei looked up, standing behind her was Karasu.  
  
"Him!" Hiei pointed his wing at Karasu.  
  
"What about him?" She turned and looked, "Oh, Karasu?"  
  
"He stalked Kurama, he wants him!" Hiei yelled.  
  
"Why did that crow point at me?" Karasu walked over and stood next to Red.  
  
"He said he knows you, you used to stalk someone named Kurama." Red said.  
  
"Used to. I don't anymore." Karasu said, "Hey! How did that crow know anyway?"  
  
"His name is Hiei, heard of him?" Red asked.  
  
"Yeah, it's Kurama's friend." Karasu grinned, "How did he get like this?"  
  
"I am not!" Hiei yelled, "I found a blue stone."  
  
"Don't waste your breathe, he can't understand you." Red said to Hiei, she looked at Karasu, "There's still a stone out there."  
  
"Oh great." Karasu said.  
  
"Come on, you're coming with us." Red handed an arm full of bags to Karasu and picked Hiei up. She took him back to her house, she placed Hiei on the table and got something to eat for him, "Here you go, make yourself at home until I find the stone."  
  
"Okay." Hiei stared at the plate of chopped chicken pieces.  
  
"Let me lay down some rules." She said, "You are not to leave this house, because there is a a hunter out there that shoots crows, Karasu knows all about that. You cannot go snooping. And you cannot go into my bathroom. Got it?"   
  
"Yep." The dark red eyed crow watched her take things out of the bags and put them in cabinets.   
  
"I hope you don't mind if I go take a nap." Karasu said.  
  
"No, just try not to pull the covers over you head." She kissed him.  
  
"Okay, I'll try not to." He went to one of the rooms and shut the door.  
  
"I guess it's only me and you now." She said to Hiei.  
  
"Yeah." Hiei said.  
  
"You sound sad." Red turned to him.  
  
"It's just, I've never been away from Kurama for a night." He said, there was a quiet tinking noise on the table. Red walked over, he was crying tiny gems.   
  
"It'll be okay." She smiled.  
  
"I hope." Hiei said, "How did I get like this?"   
  
"You touched a power stone, it turns beings into crows and crows into demons." She pointed to herself.  
  
"Oh." He sat down and watched as she cleaned the house and did the dishes, she looked at a clock.  
  
"Shit! Karasu went to sleep hours ago." She went to the room and knocked on the door, "Karasu, wake up. You had better not have suffocated yourself under the blanket!" She said, Hiei hopped over.   
  
"Let me sleep for a little longer." She heard him groan.  
  
"Oka-"  
  
"Hey! I understood him!" Hiei said.  
  
"What?!" Red threw open the door, there was only a little lump in the middle of the bed. She yanked the covers off. There was a crow.  
  
"Let me sleep." The crow mumbled, it opened its eyes. Violet.   
  
"Gods! Karasu you're a crow again!" Red said.  
  
"What?!" Karasu began to examine himself, "Damn it!"  
  
"Hiei, did you see anyone take the stone?" Red asked.   
  
"Yeah, it was some red haired girl, she even said something about Red would be hers." Hiei said.  
  
"No! Rezu did this!" Red growled, "Don't worry, we'll get that stone back!" 


	5. Oh no, Red!

Author's note: Boy, it's been a while since I've updated this one. Anyway, enjoy!  
  
Chapter 5  
  
Karasu flew over to Red, clacking his beak in an irritated manner.  
  
"How come Rezu wasn't turned into a crow?" He asked.  
  
"As long as you have something covering your skin you'll be fine, you have any effects." Red bit her lip thoughtfully.  
  
"How did I become a crow then, I didn't touch it." Karasu cawed.  
  
"Well, some people know how to use the stone to their own advantage." Red picked Hiei and Karasu up and went into the kitchen, "Rezu is trying to lure me out."  
  
"Is there anyway to get it back?" Hiei asked.  
  
"Yes, but it will be very dangerous." Red sighed.  
  
"How?" Hiei asked a bit of excitement in his voice.  
  
"He father shoots crows. So we have to make it to were there are too many crows." Red opened a window and began to caw out for help.  
  
"Like attack of the birds?" Karasu asked.  
  
"Yes." Red nodded. After a few minutes trees were filled with hundreds of crows, she went outside, "Listen, something terrible has happened! And I need your help."  
  
"What is it?"  
  
"We'll help you no matter what!"   
  
"The hunter's daughter has the stone that turns human to crows. And she is using it on my friends." Red said, "I need your help to get myself and my friends into their house."   
  
"Right, an all out airily ambush attack!" My of the crows enjoyed the thought.  
  
"But some or many of you may lose their lives to the hunter!" Red yelled, the chatter didn't die down.  
  
"And if we win may we take the life of the hunter who has slain many of our own?" A female crow cawed.  
  
"His fate shall be yours to decide." Red said. Karasu and Hiei watched as the crows began to hop around and chant 'Kill the hunter!'   
  
"You really know how to work up a crowd." Karasu said.  
  
"Yes, well it's nothing really, those crows have wanted revenge since I can remember." Red looked up, "We will go now!"  
  
"Kill! Revenge for those the hunter has slain!"   
  
"Come on boys." Red tucked Hiei and Karasu in her coat. Red made her way to Rezu's house, the hunter was standing in his yard watching the woods when Red came out.  
  
"Well, if it isn't the bird woman." He gripped his rifle, suddenly the sky behind the Red became dark, and the caws of hundreds of crows met his ears, "What in the hell?" He shot a few times, but the birds began to drop from the sky like rain. Red had snuck passed him into the house, her instincts led her to Rezu's room. Rezu had candles lit and the stone in the middle of a small bowl.   
  
"Red!" She said, shocked to see Red in her home, "It's so nice to see you."  
  
"Save it! I'm here for the stone!" Red demanded. Rezu swung out the same knife as she had before.   
  
"You aren't getting it! Because you'll go back to someone else! I'm the only one you should love." She ran at Red who moved to the side, but realized a little too late it wasn't her she was trying to hit. Karasu gave a pain fill caw, Red quickly removed Karasu from her jacket. A big streak off blood ran across his back. Rezu shoved Red causing Karasu to fall from her hands, he hit the ground with a painful thud. Hiei flew out of her jacket and began to peck Rezu's face, she smacked him and he landed in the bowl with the stone. Red tried to get her crows but she decided to lead Rezu away from them. She ran outside where all the crows were attacking the hunter. Rezu came out.  
  
"Help!" He shouted.  
  
"Daddy!" Rezu said, "Red this is all your fault!" She charged at Red. Suddenly Hiei came running outside along with the hurt Karasu.   
  
"Red we have the stone!" Hiei shouted over the noise, he had the stone in it's bowl.   
  
"No, you don't!" Rezu, who was still wearing gloves grabbed the stone out of the bowl and threw it. "Catch Red!"  
  
"Wha?" The stone collided with Red's stomach, her hands clasped the stone. The commotion got worse. Red was no longer there.  
  
"Daddy! That crow shoot it!" Rezu yelled, pointing to a crow that was trying to fly up. The hunter aimed quickly and pulled the trigger, the crow gave a half hearted caw and hit the ground. The hunter collapsed on the ground, "Daddy! Daddy!"  
  
"Time to deal with you." Karasu said, he ran his hand on her shoulder. There was an explosion, when the smoke cleared Rezu was gone. The crows landed on the roof.  
  
"Where's Red?" Hiei asked, the stone was on the ground, he picked it up in his jacket. He looked up a little more, there was the crow Rezu had told the hunter to kill. It was breathing heavily. He walked over, blood was coming from its beak, but there was something that caught him the most, the blood red eyes. "Karasu!"  
  
"What?" Karasu was there now, he looked down, "Oh no, Red!" 


End file.
